Device for teaching penmanship.



W. W. WILLEAMS. DEVICE FOBKTEACHING PENMANSHIP. APPLICATION FILED mm. 1914. RENEWED OCT. 23. $915.

1 ,1 84,1 55. Patented May 23, 1916.

1 ILLIAM w. WILLIAMS, or PORTLAND, OREGON.

' DEVICE FORTEACHIN G PENMANSHIP.

1 Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented May 23, 1916.

Application filed July 6, 1914, Serial No. 849,064. Renewed October 23, 1915. .Serial No. 57,592.

,To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM TLIAMS, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Portland, county of Multnomah, and State of Oregon, have invented a certain new and useful Device for Teaching Penmanship, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices for teaching enmanship, and more particularly to a device especially designed and adapted .for use by pupils while writing with a. pen or pencil, in order to assist them in training the hand to properly grasp the pen and to .would occupy without the device, erly placed.

' readily and necessarily assume and keep the correct Writing position with the pen on the paper.

The great difficulty in teaching pupils to write properly with a pen and to use an easy and free arm movement, is to get them to hold the pen properly with the hand resting easily upon the tips of the nailsof the third and fourth fingers, instead of upon the fleshy part of the hand.

- The object of my invention is to provide a very simple and cheap device for use with a pen, or pencil, and adapted to be held in the hand at substantially a right angle to' the pen holder or pencil and connected therewith at its upper end and at its lower end adapted to move over the supporting surface on which the writing is being done;

With the device it is absolutely necessary, in order to keep the pen point on the paper, to

turn the hand in the correct writing position with the third and fourth fingers turned under to substantially the same position they if prop- I have-shown in the accompanying sheet of drawings, one practical embodimentof the invention, and have also shown how it is used.

. Figure 1 is an inner side view of the hand holding a pen with my device in use therewith; Fig. 2 is a view of the device apart from pen; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view showing an edge of one end of the device; and Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line M of Fig. 2. The invention, broadly considered, comprises in combination with a pen or pencil, a positioning member projecting laterally therefrom through the palm of the hand and preferably having its upper end adapted to fit overthe pen holder so as to be readily attached and detached.

a hole 2 adapted to fit the body of the pen holder or pencil, and provided at its other end with a rounded portion, or ball, as 3, whereby it can be readily moved over the supporting surface. The device is placed over the pen holder or pencil and then clasped in the hand with the pen holder in the correct writing position, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 1. The hand cannot be turned over on to the side or fleshy part thereof, as is the tendency to do, without lifting the pen point olf the paper, as the lower end'of the device is resting on the paper and the hand is resting on the device with the third and fourth fingers turned un der in'about the same position they would occupy if the hand were resting thereupon.

The device, of course, is to be made of any suitable light material and its shape and size can be varied without departing from the spirit of the invention, and I do not, therefore, limit the invention to the particular form here shown for illustrative purposes, except as I may be limited by the correctly thumb with its lower end adapted to be I moved upon asupporting surface.

2. In combination with a pen holder or pencil, a positioning member adapted to be clasped in the hand at substantially right angles to said pen holder or pencil at a point above the thumb and adapted at its upper end for attachment to said pen holder or pencil.

3. A. device for teaching enmanship comprising amember adapted at one end to be attached to the pen holder at a point above the thumb and at its other end to be moved freely upon the supporting surface.

l. A device of the character shown and described, comprising a body portion hav ing one end adapted to receive a pen holder therethrough, and at its other end provided with a rounded portion adapted to slide freely over a smooth said device heing adapted to be claspedin the hand"be-, moved over theQWri-ting'."surfacefsubstan ;1 C tween its ends. V tially as described. i l

5. A device for teaching 'pupils to hold a Signed at P rtland, Multnomah county, pen or pencil in their head cogrcltly, cgm- Oregon, this 29"day (ifTJune,1914. prisin a member a apte t0 ec aspe ;in; 3 the him of the pupil With a part of the fin- WILLIAM WILLIAMS" gers encircling the same, said devicehaving In presence of one end adapted for attachment to the pen t J. J. HURLBERT, A or pencll and Its other end adapted t0 be; R. B. FRENCH; i I 7 come; of this patent may b'eeliteinedier fiirj cents each, by addressing the fcbmmissioner-qt gaining 

